The Genius Popcorn Proposition
by Fireworks8725
Summary: SHENNY/PELDON. Sheldon has the apartment to himself for the afternoon, so he goes over to see Penny, and panders to a social convention of invitations, and bribes! Plus, a bit of Leonard/Sheldon rivalry! Upgraded from a one-shot due by request!
1. When Leonard's Away

_**Quick One Shot, I'm feeling inspired! **_

"Penny….Penny…Penny…Penny…" Sheldon Cooper knocked on the door to Penny's apartment repetitively.

Penny jolted off her couch and swung the door open.

"Sheldon, Sheldon, Sheldon!" She said in a sing-song voice.

"Well now, that was unnecessary." He _'tsked'_ at her.

"What do you want Sheldon?" Penny sighed.

"Leonard has vacated the apartment for the day and I need someone to appreciate the brilliance of my newest project. May I use you as a bouncing board?"

"You couldn't possibly see how insulting you just sounded."

"I merely suggested that you accompany me in the apartment for a moment so I can try to configure my latest thesis on the theory that-"

"No, no, no, no! You know all of that is just mumbo-jumbo to me anyways sweetie!" Penny cooed.

Sheldon didn't want Penny to know he was just lonely. He had been alone in the apartment with a copy of Iron Man in the DVD player and a bowl of popcorn freshly popped, but the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that something…some**one** was missing. He needed some kind of excuse to get her over to his apartment so he could have some company without letting his vulnerability show.

"Penny, you know I don't invite people over often and well….this is a very important experiment and I'm willing to pander to social normalities in this one instance only and bribe you with Orville Reddenbacher's Extra Buttery Movie Theatre Styled Popcorn." He stated, sounding more like a TV commercial than anything else.

"I have popcorn at home." Penny stated.

"I have unicorns!" Sheldon blurted.

"Unicorns…?" Penny stated, unsure what he was playing at.

"I'm sorry. That was misleading. I don't have any unicorns." Sheldon was a bad liar. He had panicked and said the first thing that popped in his head when he thought of blonde girls and things that may lure them out of an apartment doorway.

He closed his eyes while she stood there open mouthed, gaping at him. She smelled like vanilla oil, he thought.

His eyes flashed open and his face was stricken with shock at his own mental path.

"Uh, BYE." He said suddenly, and whizzed back into his apartment as if he was wearing his Flash costume.

Before Penny could respond, Sheldon was gone and his apartment door was shut behind him.

"Dammit!" She muttered to herself.

Dr. Sheldon Cooper had come to her door and asked for her company, and she gave him a hard time.

"Dammit Penny, when will you learn!"

She had been waiting for the day that Sheldon would come around without Leonard present. He was a theoretical physicist and all she had been dating were surfers and idiots. She wanted to give Sheldon a chance, but she was too scared of rejection. Sheldon was too smart for her. He had a boyish charm and his rare laugh and the clueless way he viewed the world outside his science bubble.

She chuckled to herself remembering the time they met, when she called him a genius, and she could practically feel him warming to her right away.

"What am I doing in the hallway?" She said out loud, "Sheldon!" She said and ran to his apartment right away.

She swung his door open, as she stopped knocking before entry since the day they met.

"I'm sorry Sheldon; I do want to hang out with you." She said to him as she noticed him curled up on his cushion of the couch in his purple poncho that he had woven with his own loom.

"Really?"

"Really, really." Penny smiled and went to sit beside him on the couch.

Sheldon smiled widely and without a word of explanation, pressed play on the DVD and passed her the bowl of popcorn, as they cuddled in together.

_**[Just a quickie, my first Big Bang Theory fic. Review? Let me know if you think I should continue this or just leave it. Thanks for reading!]**_


	2. In Sheldon's Seat

_**[ I don't know why, but I really like the pairing of Penny & Sheldon. I think it's because Jim Parsons & Kaley Cuoco are so adorable and comfortable together, that despite the characters being so vastly different from each other, they have better chemistry together than Penny does with Leonard. Sorry Leonard. Anyways, I know Sheldon isn't INCREDIBLY canon due to the fact he doesn't do actual relationships, but hey, it's fanfiction for a reason. You've got to use your imagination a little bit (lol). This is just a little follow up, by request. ]**_

The next morning, Leonard arrived back at the apartment early in the morning. He had been at an overnight teaching seminar on Analytic geometry and mathematics in string theory sciences.

Everything seemed fairly normal, and he opened his front door to see Howard, Raj, Penny and Sheldon arranged in the usual form in the living room.

"Wow, you guys are all awake really early." Leonard stated as he shut the door behind him.

"Now Leonard its 9:00 in the morning, by this time most regular day workers would have begun their shifts at work, surely we must be active by this time." Sheldon said, making his way to the kitchen and placing his empty cereal bowl into the sink.

"Wassap Leonard, my man, care to join Raj and I in an exiting duel in a medieval land?" Howard said in a luring tone.

"I just walked in, maybe later." He smiled at the familiarity in his surroundings.

"Penny, you're not normally awake so early though…what has you awake and over here so early?"

"Oh, I didn't actually get back home last night; I just woke up because Howard was shrieking about his magical staff." She rolled her eyes. "I wish I was still asleep."

"You…slept…here? Last night?" His eye brows furrowed together, his mathematical brain trying to quickly solve the mystery of reasons she would have slept over. "Did you…lock yourself out of your house?"

"No, silly. I was up late with Sheldon."

Leonard choked on the air that had just entered his lungs. "What?"

"Watching movies, Leonard." Sheldon interjected from his location hovering above the kitchen sink.

"Oh." He said simply and waded past everyone to go drop his things in his bedroom.

That evening after everyone had gone home, Leonard and Sheldon sat in silence in their apartment.

"So, what do you want to do tonight?" Leonard asked, wondering of Sheldon would want to watch some movies with him now that he was back. "You won't have to bother Penny now, we can do something together."

Sheldon was slightly stricken by the statement that him being with Penny was bothersome to her. She did come to his apartment completely of her own will, and they watched _Iron Man 1 & 2_, as well as the new _Sherlock Holmes_ movie, and the entire _Pirates of the Caribbean _trilogy before falling asleep beside each other right there on the couch. She could have left anytime. He felt violated by Leonard's uneducated assumption.

"What do you want to do?" He asked curtly.

"We could watch a movie? It's been a while since we've watched something together." Leonard suggested.

"I suppose. I'm always in the mood for a good movie." Sheldon grinned at the idea of another movie marathon.

"Okay, how about _Iron Man_?" Leonard said excitedly, picking something he knew Sheldon loved to watch.

"Already watched it."

"Well, I know you have already seen it Sheldon, but the point of buying a DVD is that you watch it again…" Leonard explained.

"Watched it just last night."

"Oh, okay, well what about part 2?"

"Last night."

Leonard scanned the top of their DVD shelf.

"_Sherlock Holmes_?"

"Last night."

"_Pirates_?"

"Whole trilogy in the wee hours of this morning."

Leonard felt deflated.

"I know, _Back to the Future_!" Leonard said, pulling the film out from behind the shelf.

"Penny wanted to see that! Would you believe she doesn't even know what a DeLorean is! I'll go get her so she can watch it with us!" Sheldon said and leapt into the air and before Leonard could even mutter a response, Sheldon was out the door and tapping on Penny's door in the usual way.

Penny squealed in delight from across the hall and took only a moment to gather herself before running back across the hall with Sheldon beside her.

"Hey Leonard!" She said as she entered the apartment. "I brought my sweater this time! I know now how chilly it gets in here at night-I was so cold I was practically under your poncho with you last night!" She said to Sheldon and chuckled before plopping herself gracefully down on the couch cushion on the far right, closest to the kitchen.

"Uh, Penny, maybe you should move?" Leonard suggested, noticing she had chosen to sit in Sheldon's seat.

Penny looked almost slapped in the face.

"No, no, Leonard, she's fine there." Sheldon said as he sat right beside her.

Leonard cocked his head to the side and found it dreadfully difficult to conceal his growing confusion.

They sat there all night, watching the whole _Back to the Future_ trilogy in one sitting. Leonard started to nod off around midnight, when the third one was almost finished. He felt like a third wheel, listening to Sheldon and Penny giggle and share inside jokes about the movie and about movies from the night before.

"I think I'm going to call it a night guys." He stated.

"Oh really! Sheldon and I wanted to watch the original Star Wars trilogy next! He said he would explain everything to me, are you sure you don't want to join us?" Penny asked cheerily.

Leonard stood up and stared for a moment at the odd couple on his living room couch, but just shrugged to himself and went to sleep.

"Sheldon," Penny said, once Leonard was out of earshot, "Why did you let me sit in your seat?" Penny had only sat there to see if Sheldon would have allowed it in the first place.

Sheldon shrugged. "I thought you deserved to have the best seat in the house."

"That's…sweet."

Penny set up the next movie and sat back down and lay her head on Sheldon's shoulder. To which he did not protest.

_**[ **__**I may do more, I'm unsure. What do you guys think? What would you like to see happen?**_

_**& thanks for reading! Xo ]**_


	3. The Morning After

Big Bang Theory; Chapter 3.

_**[This is the first chapter I am writing on my first ever new Netbook yay! I am still learning how to use it, and the point of it is that I can do typing without the distraction of the internet connection. So, I won't be tempted to run off and play on facebook! lol**_

_**So this originally was just a quick one shot, but due to a great wave of reviews, I have been prompted to continue. Thanks so much for all the great comments and feedback, none of my other stories have gotten so much attention before.]**_

Leonard awoke the next morning to the smell of French toast. He jumped up in alarm. Today was Monday. Monday was cereal day. Sheldon was known for his temper tantrums if the wrong food was prepared on any day of the week. He rolled onto his stomach and groaned into his pillow. He dreaded waking up on mornings like these. He was only slightly curious as to why in the world French toast would be prepared if Sheldon was the only other person in the house.

Or...maybe Penny slept over...again.

Why in the world of theoretical physicists would Penny continuously spend the night across the hall from her own home? A possible ant infestation? Mice? Rats? Leonard racked his mind to find a reasonable explanation.

"I know!" he thought to himself, "She is trying to be closer to me!" He mentally concluded. They had a rocky on and off relationship, and it was hard to say at any given moment what their current status was. He couldn't have been more wrong!

In the kitchen, Penny was dancing around with a batter covered spoon. It had been Sheldon's idea that she make any breakfast that she wanted. Contrary to the usual conventions of 'sleepovers', Penny didn't actually SLEEP over. They both hadn't gone to sleep at all.

After their movie marathon ended, they had just stayed awake talking. Until they both realized that the sun had come up and they were hungry. Thus, the adventure of breakfast presented itself.

"Come on shake your body baby, do the Conga! You know you can't control the feeling any longer!" Penny sang out. She was oblivious to her atrocious singing, especially since Sheldon did not protest to it.

Leonard cringed in his room. He burst out into the hallway, ready to be attacked by Sheldon.

"Gooooood morning Penny!" He sang out, trying to drown out her singing.

"Oh crap..." Penny mumbled.

Leonard heard some undistinguishable shuffling from around the corner, but Penny righted herself, and Sheldon was on the end near the fridge, by the time he made his way around the corner.

"Wha-..."

"Morning Leonard!" Penny said in her usual chipper tone.

"Just act casual...don't act like you suspect anything Leonard..." he thought.

"Good thing you're awake-Sheldon and I were just going to watch the first episode of Doctor Who." Penny stated, as she made her way to a spot on the couch, with her French toast.

"You watch Doctor Who?" Leonard stated with shock in his tone.

"Not yet! But Shell has it on DVD so we are going to..."

"Wait, wait! What did you just call him?" Leonard asked.

"Sheldon?" Penny said confused.

"No, you called him 'Shell'..."

Penny laughed. "Did I really?"

Sheldon was standing in the kitchen and watching their exchange with interest in his eyes. He had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind...like, maybe the only reason she was spending all this time with him was to get closer to Leonard... He tried to push the notion away, but they did have an intimate history together...something he couldn't really challenge...not with math or science or anything he could reasonably comprehend.

Then she called him Shell.

His heart leapt forward a tiny bit.

"What in the Copenhagen was that!" He said aloud as his hand flew to the spot over his heart. Penny and Leonard turned their attentions to him.

"Are you alright Sheldon?" Leonard asked.

"Yesss..." He drawled, unsure even himself.

"That sounds incredibly convincing." Penny noted.

"Does it?" Sheldon inquired.

"Sarcasm, Sheldon." Leonard helped.

"Oh. Well, i'm completely fine. Let's get the DVD started." Sheldon suggested.

"Um, Sheldon, we do still have jobs...do you intend on going into work this week at all?"

"I am a grown man Leonard and I decide when I go to work. Is it Monday today?"

"Yes."

"Then I am going to work." he concluded, "I'm sorry Penny, we will have to reschedule today's marathon."

"Oh, Sheldon! You should have told me that you had to work today! We shouldn't have stayed up all night! How will you get through the day?" Penny said.

"Oh, I've done it before. Usually 48 hours without sleep will knock you off your feet, but 24 hours shouldn't render me useless." He assured her.

"I'll be waiting just across the hall when you come home gentlemen!" Penny promised. "Go to work, make breakthroughs, solve…things!"

Sheldon only smiled, unsure what to make of his inner thoughts, for the first time ever.

Leonard had a growing suspicion, as well as trying to convince himself that she was only here to see him…

_**[**__**I didn't really know where to go with this chapter. Any ideas to speed things along? Thanks for reading!]**_


	4. Tongue Tied

Chapter 5-Tongue Tied

Sheldon and Leonard sat down for lunch together in the regular place. It had been a fairly quiet day, the two men never bringing up the strange behaviour from home.

After 5 minutes of picking at potatoes in silence, Leonard finally spoke up.

"So, has Penny said anything about me?" Leonard asked.

Sheldon, who had been eating his meal completely normally, froze with his fork halfway to his mouth.

"Was I away for the beginning half of this conversation you are continuing?" Sheldon had a stunned blank look on his face.

Then Howard and Raj sat down beside them.

"Hey guys? What are you talking about?" Howard asked, eager to hear any gossip or information that had nothing to do with him.

"I think Penny wants to get back together with me." Leonard grinned.

Sheldon froze mid chew. He swallowed whole what was in his mouth, and rushed out his next sentence.

"What lead you to that conclusion?" His voice reminded him of that when he was just reaching puberty, that tiny screech recognizable in his tone. He began eating faster.

Leonard turned to Howard and Raj and explained how Penny hadn't slept at home in two days and how it MUST be a ploy to be 'closer to the man she let get away'.

"You sound touched in the head, Leonard." Howard laughed.

"Yeah, man you are looking way too much into this." Raj stated.

"Well if she is over again tonight, I'm going to show her that I'm interested too, and then you will all see." He smirked.

Sheldon just quickly ate his potatoes and then returned to work.

[-]

All through lunch Sheldon did his best to listen instead of speak. All the great minds know that listening skills will help you achieve the most.

His self esteem was never at an all time high. Being the most intelligent person on the face of the Earth had its drawbacks, no one understood you, for one. Secondly, no one ever believed you had a chance at things all the regular guys did.

For once he couldn't explain this to himself. Why he suddenly didn't care utmost which seat he watched his movies from. He hadn't slept in his own bed in two days, he barely slept at all. This was all new to him and he was playing it by ear. It made him uncomfortable, and he wouldn't admit to anyone that it was a bit fun.

It unsettled him to hear Leonard talk about Penny like she belonged to him. Penny had barely mentioned Leonard at all in their recent time together, but now that Leonard brought it up, Sheldon felt queasy. As if all this time, Penny was just using him to get to Leonard. It seemed likely and yet at the same time so very highly unlikely.

Leonard couldn't have known how much Sheldon's feelings were now in knots. No one bothered to wonder of Dr. Cooper had any feelings at all…except Penny.

[-]

Sheldon had been looking forward to being home all day. To the one person that didn't think of him as a crazy heartless robot Doctor.

Leonard talked about Penny in the car the whole drive home, and how he was working on a master plan to cleverly express his feelings to her.

Sweat formed on Sheldon's forehead. Once Penny went back to Leonard, he would only have Howard and Raj again. Already Howard was set to be married, and who knew how long it would be before Raj was with someone? It was all too fickle…he needed someone he could depend on to be around for him. Someone that wasn't his mother, for once.

Sheldon sat down in his usual spot as Leonard placed his work bag down at the computer desk.

"Did you really want to watch Dr. Who tonight?" Leonard asked.

"_Not really," Sheldon thought, "I just watched it last week…but, Penny wants to watch it with me, so…"_

"Yes."

Leonard was startled with the shortness of Sheldon's reply.

"It's such a wonderful series that I need to educate Penny so that she may educate others like herself." He stated matter-of-factly.

"You're right, and I'm going to join you guys. " Leonard said, I'll text her to be here in an hour and we can make a night of it. Maybe we could even call in a sick day tomorrow." Leonard suggested.

"Now, honestly Leonard, are you going to let a movie date with a woman interfere with your work schedule?" Sheldon asked.

"You did. If I didn't say something, you would have missed work to sit and watch TV shows with Penny all day." Leonard stated, and went into his room to freshen up for Penny's arrival.

Tongue tied, Sheldon went with no words at all.

**[I just reread this story and although Sheldon isn't as canon as he could be, I'm still having fun with the variation. Please review and I love any ideas anyone has! The lunch scene is from a review I received and inspired me to keep writing this story! Thanks to anyone who reads, and I'm planning some new Big Bang fics very soon!]**


	5. Extra Buttery Popcorn

Chapter 5: EXTRA BUTTERY POPCORN

Sheldon sat alone in silence for what felt like a long while. The once fun idea of a watching the show with Penny now seemed to fill him with dread. He was reminded of cavemen, or dogs that felt the innate need to mark their territory. Would he have to adopt this same notion if he wanted to have some private living room time with a friend?

He had completely forgotten that Penny asked him to knock on her door when he was home from work. Instead, Leonard had taken it upon himself to text her when he was done getting ready.

Maybe they were all messing with him. Maybe he was primping for her now and it was all a big joke that Penny wanted to spend time with him.

Sheldon furrowed his eyebrows, stood up defiantly and marched across the hall and rapped on Penny's door.

"Sheldon!" She squealed as she opened her door.

The sour look on his face evaporated almost immediately.

"I've been waiting for you, what did you guys work late tonight?" She asked innocently, walking out into the hall and closing her apartment door behind her. "Are you ready for our adventure into WhoVille?!" She asked, smiling.

"WhoVille is a land where the Who's live in Dr. Suess books, Penny." Sheldon corrected her.

"Oh well, then our adventure into….Doctors? I don't know man; you are supposed to be teaching me information about this stuff." She shrugged.

"I just wanted to advise you, this isn't a mandatory viewing session." Sheldon stated.

"I know that." Penny almost frowned. Was he uninviting her?

"If you are still interested, you should know Leonard has insisted in joining us again."

Penny resisted a scoff, but he still noticed her rolling her eyes.

"You know, I had planned to start you on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy also…How about we go see the new Hobbit movie in theatre instead?" Sheldon asked, trying to sound as business like as possible.

"Buy me extra buttery popcorn and you got a deal!"

x.x.x.

4 hours later Sheldon and Penny came laughing up the stairs of their apartment building.

"I love the way he talks. 'Preciouses! And filthy Hobbittses!" Penny laughed so hard while she spoke, it was a miracle Sheldon could understand anything she was saying.

"The best part was the Goblin King." He stated.

"But when we left the theatre you said your favorite part was the giant birds!" Penny shouted, "Oh my God Sheldon you know what we need that would make life so amazing! BEARDS!" Penny yelled as if she had been drunk instead of just over excited.

Sheldon agreed.

"YES, beards, very long beards."

"They would be so long that people would trip on them, and we would need pipes too, and pointy hats!" Penny demanded.

"I'll get you any kind of hat you want." Sheldon assured her.

"I'll wear it with my new beard." She said proudly.

Inside Sheldon's apartment, Leonard was sitting on the couch with a look of concern on his face when he heard loud laughter outside his door. He got up and swung open the door. Penny and Sheldon stopped laughing right away like guilty children that just broke a window and have been caught by their parents.

"Where have you guys been? Sheldon you just took off and Penny! I called your cell phones, how come you didn't answer me?" Leonard asked. He looked very agitated.

"Gosh, MOM, I left my phone at home!" Penny said.

"Is there an emergency of some kind Leonard?" Sheldon asked, looking concerned for a moment.

"No, nothing is wrong. Just, I was getting changed and when I came out you were gone." Leonard said. "Now out loud it sounds bad, but I swear I was genuinely worried."

Why in the world in Penny spend the night out with Sheldon, while he was right there waiting for her next door? It made no sense to him. Maybe Sheldon lied to her and said I was working! Sheldon is trying to keep her from me!

"You know, Penny, I was here all night waiting for you guys! I thought we were going to watch Dr. Who." Leonard said.

"I know you were home, Leonard. We went to see The Hobbit. And it was SO GREAT!" She beamed.

Leonard frowned.

"Sheldon, I thought you and I were going to see it together this weekend?"

"Well, I can't. I've already seen it now. Sorry, Leonard." Sheldon replied, "Now, I am going into the apartment. I don't pay rent to have conversations in the hallway. Please move."

"What if I don't want to let you in? Penny, feel free to come in, there's some chips out for you and Dr. Who is in the DVD player." He grinned.

Sheldon looked insulted. "This is my apartment Leonard. You know you can't keep me out of it. I'm taller than you."

"Let me handle this Sheldon." Penny raised her arm in the air to start yelling at Leonard when we pieced together the entirety of what he had just said. Leonard wanted to spend time alone with her…without Sheldon. He even had snacks out for her! He was trying to win her back and make Sheldon feel bad!

"You prick!" She shouted.

Both men turned and looked at her with confusion in their eyes.

"For you information Leonard, I don't like chips! And even if I did, you couldn't buy me with them, because extra buttery popcorn is the way to my heart and even Sheldon knows that! ALSO how dare you assume I am hanging around Sheldon to get to you!"

"I never said that!" Leonard said.

"Oh, yes you did. At lunch. I remember." Sheldon said loudly, trying to speak over Penny who was now growling so loudly he assumed the whole building would peek out of their apartments to see what all the fuss was about.

Penny stopped mid-growl as an idea popped into her head. She grinned widely.

"I'm going home now. Sheldon, you are welcome to come over tonight and to bring over the Lord of The Rings. I will have the popcorn ready." She turned to him, put her hands on his face and pulled him to her. She kissed him right on the lips in a swift dramatic motion, then straightened herself out, turned on the spot and walked over into her apartment, and shut the door behind her, not looking back.

The two men stood in dumbstruck silence trying to make sense of what just happened.

"Well, are you going to go over there?" Leonard asked in a small voice.

"I…don't…quite…know." Sheldon replied.

x.x.x

_**[Hi guys! Thanks for reading! I can't believe how much time has passed since I last updated this! Amazing how times flies! Anyways, please review-let me know what you think and how you think this should all end! I look forward to any feedback you have! Xoxo! ]**_


	6. Special Movie Night

**[Hi guys! Thank you SO MUCH for all the feedback and comments! It makes me smile and makes me want to continue writing this! Xoxo!]**

**Chapter 6: Special Movie Night**

Penny paced up and down her apartment, wringing her hands and thinking hard.

"_What the Hell did I just do? Did I just kiss Sheldon Cooper? Why the Hell did I do that…I liked it…don't overthink it Penny! You wanted this, this is a good thing! But is it really?"_ She thought to herself. _"Stop second guessing yourself dummy! This is amazing and you want him!"_

"Wait…I want him. I do. I do!" She said out loud as her face broke into a smile. She let her arms fall to her side, and she stepped into the bathroom to freshen up. No way could he resist coming over after the proposition she just made. She had nothing to worry about. He felt it to, she knew it.

x.x.x

Outside in the hallway, the men still stood baffled, trying to figure out what their next moves would be. Leonard was probably in the most shock, both that he had been rejected and that Penny had just kissed Sheldon.

"What kind of bizzaro world have I been transported into?" He said suddenly.

Sheldon did not look amused. He looked from side to side briefly, taking in his surroundings.

"I don't see the telltale signs of any portals or transport devices. Perhaps you are simply suffering from vertigo or having a seizure." Sheldon noted. "Maybe you should sit down."

"Yeah, maybe I should." Leonard turned to head inside, and Sheldon followed him, matching his pace ensuring he would make it within the doors before Leonard remembered he was barring him from entry. Sheldon noticed the bowl of chips and the home loading screen of the Dr. Who DVD on the TV and cringed. Sheldon had a further dawning of clarity: Leonard was one cocky bastard.

Sheldon's hands formed fists before he even realized that he was having a very strong emotion about this. He went calmly and quietly into his bedroom and gathered up his Special Edition Lord of the Rings Trilogy Box Set that he never left out in the living room, or ever let another human being breathe near, and walked out.

Leonard was still sitting on the couch when Sheldon passed by him on his way to the front door.

"You're really going over there aren't you?" Leonard asked.

"I really am."

"But, what about me? You know how I feel about her." Leonard said.

"I know, you never asked me how I feel about her." Sheldon said and walked out of the apartment.

x.x.x

Penny finished up by rubbing some pink rose blush lightly on her cheeks. She smiled to herself in the mirror and giggled. Here she was getting all dolled up for Sheldon. Who could have ever guessed that would happen!

She heard the faint triple knock from her bathroom and she skipped over to the door. She took a deep breath and the next moment she was face to face with Sheldon.

Somehow now it was so very different to when he had first knocked on her door just a few days ago to invite her over. Now she stared at him a full moment and imagined exactly what she wanted to do.

_She put her hand behind his head and pulled him to her. She pressed her body against him and let their lips touch, this time longer than the last and let them linger there softly pressing against each other. She reached from his hand and dragged him into the apartment and tossed him onto the couch where she jumped up on him and started to kiss him again and then-_

"Penny? Penny?" Sheldon looked at her tentatively.

Penny had spaced out in her imagination and hadn't heard a word Sheldon said.

"Oh, sorry, um, please, come in! I'll pop the popcorn!" She smiled. She risked a glance at the couch and giggled at her fake memory.

They both walked into the kitchen as the microwave beeped, indicating the popcorn was ready.

Sheldon reached up to a high shelf to reach a bowl, while Penny got the bag out of the microwave, when they turned they smashed up against each other.

Sheldon's mind turned off and he caught her eyes. He was taken over by his rampant daydreams.

_He held tight to her and found the edge of her shirt and lifted it easily over her head and began kissing her again right there in the kitchen. She roped her arms around his head and then-_

"Oh Sheldon thanks for getting that bowl, I'll just take that!" She took the bowl and turned to pour in the hot popcorn.

"Yum! Smells like butter to me! So, Lord of the Rings?" She asked, making her way to sit on the couch.

They started the night awkwardly on opposite ends of her tiny couch with the Fellowship of The Ring. But as the night wore on, Sheldon became more committed to explaining and describing relevance of plot points to Penny, and she actually enjoyed how excited it made him to involve her in the film.

By early early the next morning, they finished the Return of the King, and they were curled together in a ball sleepiness. The credits ran all the way to the end and once the DVD returned to its load screen, they had fallen asleep in each other's arms.

x.x.x

It was 10AM the next morning and Penny and Sheldon had slept the morning away. They could have stayed that way for many more hours, had there not been a knock at the door.

"Penny? Are you in there?" Bernadette said. When she heard no movement, she used her extra key and opened up the door, only to see the most unlikely sight ever. She squealed in shock, and that's when Sheldon toppled off the couch.

"Throw it in! Throw the ring into the fire!" he shouted at full volume.

"Shh! Sheldon, we're not in Mordor, just relax." Penny cooed.

Bernadette's eyes bulged out of her head.

"This explains so much, while still leaving so very many things unanswered. Sheldon, I just spoke to Howard and he said you weren't at work, but this is very last place I expected you to be."

Sheldon took a moment to register his surroundings. "Oh yes. I'll simply go in after lunch and explain that my genius brain needed a few more hours to calculate a tricky theorem."

"Penny, why aren't you at work?" Bernadette looked down at her and wagged a finger at her to scold her.

"Oh pssh. Don't act so disappointed." Penny stated.

"Yeah you're right. I got nothing." Bernadette caved.

Sheldon took a moment to straighten out his shirt and stood up. Penny stood and they looked at each other awkwardly for a moment as if not sure how to address each other anymore.

"Well, I must go now, but we should plan something for tonight. Your turn to pick." He grinned. He leaned in but noticed Bernadette watching with wide curious eyes, and changed his trajectory and pecked Penny on the cheek.

He walked out of the apartment and closed the door behind him. He stopped still outside the door to hear Bernadette's shrill voice.

"What the Hell is going on here missy!" She hollered at Penny.

Sheldon laughed to himself, glad he had no gossipy friends he needed to explain himself to. Or so he thought.

X.x.x

**[Thanks to everyone following along! How should it end guys? Let me know what you think, and I shall wrap it up! TY **** ]**


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